The past week and a half sure has had it's ups and downs. I have had two more registrations at work which is making me feel good. However, there are days like yesterday that make me feel like crap. I spoke with one person yesterday out of 5 appointments. And, that one person called me an hour and a half before her appointment to cancel it. Fortunately she did say she wanted a call back next week to reschedule the appointment.

Other than work, yesterday contained some soon to be painful news. I went to the dentist for my cleaning. The drive there was an adventure in itself. People pulling in front of me three times without looking to see if there was any oncoming traffic. I was at the point that if somebody did that again, I was going to ride up to their bumper and hold down my horn.

While I was on the highway, about 10 to 15 minutes away from the dentist's office, I hit traffic that was literally stopped. It took about 15 minutes for me to travel less than a mile, so I hoped off the highway. I had to cancel my last dentist appointment because I forgot about it while working in the yard two months ago. Now I was late for this new appointment. No problem, I can be 10 to 15 minutes late just by taking back roads. Um, I arrived 45 minutes late. I have never been in that area of Rhode Island before and got lost. Yes, I even had a map. I ended up in a part of town that my car could have been stripped to the chassis while stopped at a stop light with me in it. I was not very happy.

Finally finding another highway, I realized I was nowhere near where I thought I was. When I made it to the dentist's office, they told me they rearranged some clients, so they could still see me. That made me feel a bit better. Oh, and I certainly did not tell them that I was dumb enough to get lost.

Back to the painful news. Remember from my post on December 14, 2005 I mentioned the work done on my teeth? Well, it looks like something is happening that I knew would happen eventually, but hoped it would take longer. My #11 Cuspid and #6 Cuspid never fell out as a child. The adult teeth were growing in the roof of my mouth toward my front teeth, perpendicular to all other teeth, so they had to be extracted as a child. They cut open the roof of my mouth and yanked the adults out. Well the bridges that were installed in 2005 have been doing very well. However, we knew the damage to my #11 Cuspid was severe and the tooth might not last too long. I was informed yesterday that it had to come out. I knew this to be true, but ignored the pain over the last two months.

Yesterday the dentist took an impression of my teeth in order to make what is called a flipper. This cost me $300.00 and is only a temporary cosmetic piece while the extraction area heals for 6 to 8 weeks. The flipper will be ready by July 16th. So, I go back to the dentist on July 16th and have him cut the bridge to allow for the extraction of the #11 Cuspid. Then I go straight to the oral surgeon and have the tooth extracted. He will then teach me how to use the flipper. I then return immediately to the dentist for any adjustments that are necessary on the flipper.

Now I have about 8 weeks to make a decision. If the bone is still strong enough, do I have an implant put in, or do I choose to simply use a bridge. I am leaning toward the implant. Anyway, I am not looking forward to any of this.

More to come on this topic in future posts.

I arrived home the other day (at dusk), only to be blocked from pulling into the garage by this fundamentally, ferocious feline.


The anger and rage in it's eyes upon approach would terrify most, but I ventured forth with disregard for what peril might lay ahead.


Imagine to my surprise when just by command the beastie rolled over in fear of my approach. I caught this photo of it gasping for it's final breath as a predator.

Oh, yeah, and I joined Technorati.

Technorati Profile

I love showers! All sorts.

SORT #1:
The feeling of being clean after a hard day of working in the yard. The fresh smell of the Aveda soap I use makes me feel great. I simply cannot understand how people can go out in public without showering for a few days (maybe weeks by the smell of some at the grocery store). Ewwwwww! Sure there are days I simply do not shower, but I stay home and relax and am typically not too stinky (The Wife might argue there), but I never go out as an overly stinky person.

SORT #2:
The Wife and I have been to a wedding in a heat wave (her sisters), a wedding in a wind storm (ours), a wedding in a blizzard (her friend's), and now a Baby Shower in a torrential downpour. Our close friends (The Wife's best friend since age 4 I believe) are having a baby girl. The Wife coordinated the Baby Shower for this past Saturday. I was there to hang out with the soon-to-be father in the bar. We drank for about 3.5 hours and chatted about a huge number of different topics with other friends while the ladies had their party upstairs in this nice place in Rhode Island. It was a good time for all. After the shower, the rain had stopped, we moved seven of us to the mother and father's house to continue celebrating for a few more hours. That was Saturday. Sunday we just relaxed at the house and did a bit of gardening. Yes, I rode my lawn mower to mow the lawn also.

SORT #3:
I love to hear the rain on the windows, to hear the crack of thunder, and to watch the lightning strike in the distance. It is simply an amazing amount of energy concentrated in one instance that provides a spectacular show. Yes, I was frightened as a child and would run into my parents bedroom and demand that I get to sleep with them, but as an adult, wow! Simply amazing stuff. That doesn't, however, solve an issue that kind of bothers me about such storms. I go outside in the late afternoon or early evening to water the garden and then the sky opens up in torrential downfall. I mean, really, could I at least have a bit of a warning please? The garden is getting plenty of water. It is growing crazy at this point. We have had to transplant the rhubarb due to how big it has gotten. By the way, I am currently working on the Garden 2007 page in the Images section. It should be up by the end of the day and there will be constant updates as the season progresses.

Lastly, completely unrelated to the showers...I posted the Fruit Trees 2007 and Front Garden 2007 pages in the Images section also.

What kind of new stuff you ask. Well, I saw a new Chiropractor today. She is a bit rougher than the last one I was seeing, but it was the best adjustment to date I think. She is also about 30 minutes closer to the house, which saves me time for more work related phone calls.

I also saw a new Massage Therapist today. Again a bit rougher than the last, but effective. And, again closer. Only about 5 minutes from the house. I intend to try these two for about a month to see how I feel. If good, then I will stick with them.

Lastly, there is a brand new section of pictures in the Images gallery. Check out the Side Yard 2007.

Time for food and zoning in front of the television.

Other than figuring out what I'm going to do with that Feature Archive section, the site is done. It has been completely updated to what was there before I encountered the uncontrollable urge to give it a makeover. Now, I can begin to post new pictures to the Images section. Some upcoming pictures include Garden 2007, Fruit Trees 2007, Side yard work, and more.

The new job is going well, but as I mentioned before, it has only been a short time, so let me get through a month or two before I praise or condemn it. Oh, I did receive a paycheck! I am not sure what to do with it. It has been so long since I received one. LOL

The Wife has been working very hard on preparations for a best friend's baby shower. It is this weekend. Her husband, Steve, and I get to hang out in the bar. Sounds like fun to me!

So, this is the end of the weekend, but now comes a new week. Get ready, because I swear it looks like it is going to be storming in the East and HOT in the West. A crazy ride for all!